Volume 3: Qiongzhou. Chapter 26 of Wu Xing Volume: Rely on you to chase, enter Shu and leave

  Lin Meng'er saw that Chu Jiu was covered in sweat, his clothes and pants seemingly drenched, and asked softly: "Big Brother Master, tonight's weather is quite cool! Why are you so hot? Look at you, how come you're sweating so much?"

  Madam Wan Dao also noticed that Wu Gou was also looking unpleasant and hastily asked: "Old man, what's going on under the ground crack?"

  She finished speaking and was about to open the sandalwood box, fearing that something was amiss with the treasure.

  Wu Gou nodded and said, "Xiao Wan, no need to check anymore, the treasure is intact!" Then he just took a deep breath and didn't say anything else.

  On the other side, Chu Jiu shook his head, took a few deep breaths, and then recounted what had happened, how he had encountered the strange beast, and how they had fought.

  "Monster, like a snake, with scales, spitting fire, with six legs and four wings!" Lin Meng'er heard this and couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly, and then said: "Heavens, it's really too frightening! If I were to encounter it, I'm afraid I wouldn't even have the strength to run away!"

  Chu Jiu sighed, "What a pity, if Seventh Uncle had encountered it, it would have been great!" Lin Meng'er's eyes lit up and she said, "Right! With the Bone Dragon having 'Netherworld Elixir', what about this Fat Inheritance Fire Beast?" Chu Jiu smiled and said, "The Fat Inheritance Fire Beast is a fire-type monster among the Five Elements, its internal elixir is the 'Scorched Fire Elixir'! It's also one of the Mysterious Yellow Heaven's Mechanisms, an extraordinary object!"

  Madam Wan Dao listened to her husband's words, the sacred object was intact, and she felt great, but after thinking for a while, she smiled and said: "I finally understand why, nine years ago, this Chongqing Prefecture Kuizhou area had drought year after year, but these nine years have been wind and rain. She said this to her husband.

  Wu Gou asked the elder, "Xiao Wan, why is this?" Lady Wan Dao replied, "How could you have forgotten? Thirty years ago, our Master said in a legend that 'When the Fat Beast appears, there will be a great drought throughout the land!'"

  "Oh, I remember! There is such a legend, but what's its purpose?"

  Lin Meng'er still didn't understand and asked: "Auntie, what does it mean?"

  Madam Wan Dao smiled and said, "You're still young and don't understand. Nine years ago, the Fat Inheritance Fire Beast was waiting for an opportunity to enter the Heavenly Pit's earth fissure outside the mountain, eyeing this treasure. That's why there was a severe drought at that time. But these nine years, the Fat Inheritance Fire Beast has been in the earth fissure, which is why we've had nine years of favorable wind and rain!"

  Wu Gou finally woke up from his dream and said, "Ah, I understand now. The Fire Beast must have known that the treasure of our sect was buried in that crack in the ground all along, but it was trapped by the Dark River. That's why it kept appearing around here for several years, causing a severe drought. The Dark River finally dried up, and only then could the beast enter the crack. However, the treasure in this box is its nemesis, so it didn't dare to move. When it wanted to come out, the water flow of the Dark River had recovered, and it couldn't get out! It's been trapped at the bottom of the crack!" Wu Gou felt great after figuring out all the connections, and his rare humor emerged. "Man proposes but God disposes" became "Beast proposes but Heaven disposes" in his words!

  Lady Wan Dao, Chu Jiu nodded in agreement. Lin Meng'er still looked puzzled and thought for a moment before asking Chu Jiu again, "But brother, you said that the Fire Beast eats wood, so it should be afraid of your wooden sword, right? Why would it be afraid of your wooden sword?"

  On the ninth day, he shook his head, and he didn't understand either.

  Madam Wan Dao thought for a moment before saying: "Younger brother of the ninth day, may I borrow your sword to take a look?"

  "Please, madam, don't be polite!" He hastily handed over the Tianxuan Fragmented Wooden Sword. The Curved Blade Lady carefully examined the sword for a long time, and with one weigh, she knew something was amiss. She lightly plucked the sword body with her finger, and immediately heard a clear, resonant sound spreading out. Her brow furrowed in thought, but soon relaxed as she couldn't help but praise: "What a fine sword! Truly, it's a fine sword! I finally understand why!"

  Yu Jiu and Lin Ming'er both didn't understand, so Lin Ming'er quickly asked again: "Auntie, what's going on?"

  The lady of the curved path returned the sword to Chu Jiu and said, "Chu Jiu, little brother, this sword is forged from the heavenly mysterious shattered wood. Although it's far inferior to the legendary number one divine sword in the world, the Heavenly Mysterious Chaos Sword, because the heavenly mysterious shattered wood also carries the blood of the ancient divine beast, Chaos, even if the fierce Fire Beast is bold, it wouldn't dare approach the scent of Chaos! Just like a wolf in the mountains, a fox would never dare to approach the smell of a tiger's urine!"

  Lin Meng'er let out a startled cry, "Huh? The Primordial Chaos Beast?! When I was young, Father would often tease me to sleep by saying 'If you don't go to sleep, the Chaos will come and eat people!' In my heart, the Chaos has always been an evil beast. Who would have thought that this Fire Beast is also afraid of it?"

  Wu Gou nodded, let out a long sigh and said: "So, according to legend, during the Xuan Yuan era, when the Heaven and Man were casting the Tian Xuan Hun Dun sword, the leftover wood was this very thing. But who could have cast it into the Tian Xuan Fragmented Wood Sword?"

  Lin Meng'er hastily smiled and said: "This, I actually know, is the number one sword-forging mountain villa in Tian Nan, the 'Shen Mang Mountain Villa'! The master of the villa, Uncle Lian, personally forged this sword!"

  Madam Wan Dao and Old Man Wu Gou both felt delighted, exchanged a glance, and burst out laughing!

  Lin Meng'er asked again, "Auntie, what are you laughing at?" Madame Wan Dao said, "To be honest, thirty years ago, our sect's sacred sword, the Kan You Gu Jian, went missing in the Jianghu and no matter how hard we looked for it, we couldn't find it! Our Sect Leader is currently thinking of a way to find Master Swordsmith to forge another one. And yet, this 'Shen Mang Mountain Villa' can actually forge even the Tian Xuan Su Mu Jian, so naturally they are the best in the world!"

  Wu Gou's face fell, and he said: "But that sword-forging material is hard to come by in a hundred years. I don't know if the Master has found good quality Xuanmo or not."

  Unfortunately, the ninth day was not a consecutive holiday, and Lin Wanruo's siblings didn't know much about sword casting. Lin Meng'er also didn't understand anything. The four of them chatted for a while longer before bringing up their departure to Shu tomorrow!

  "Tonight marks the end of sixteen years of hard work, and tomorrow morning we'll set out early! It's truly something to marvel at!" Old Man Wu Hook was also overcome with excitement as he turned back to look at the thatched hut and the grassy path.

  "Madam, the precious treasure has always been in the East Sea. Why didn't you send it to the East Sea instead of bringing it to Mount Emei in Shu?" Lin Meng'er still couldn't understand this point, and although she had previously heard Madame Wan Jian's explanation, seeing how important they considered this object to be, yet not returning it to the East Sea, she asked again.

  "Ming'er, you will definitely have the chance to understand in the future!" Madame Wan Dao smiled and said to Lin Ming'er, her eyes filled with kindness, as if Lin Ming'er were her own daughter. Chu Jiu looked on, even more perplexed.

  The next morning, the four of them set out early and left the Tiankeng Dige. After traveling over 20 miles on mountain roads, they first went to the nearest Qinglong Town to rent a horse-drawn carriage. Madame Wan Dao and Lin Niang'er sat inside with the black ebony box, while Lin Niang'er disguised herself as a man again. Wu Gou Lao Lao wrapped his head in a scarf and wore rough clothes and simple pants, becoming a carter. Chu Jiu's face was also smeared with some dark ash by Madame Wan Dao, turning him into a rustic young boy with a dark complexion. He rode on horseback alongside the carriage as the four of them headed west towards Mount Emei in Shu.

  However, they had only traveled a little over ten miles to the west when suddenly four bursts of smoke flowers exploded in the air above the ravine behind them. The four were shocked and turned around to see that it was the signal from Wudang, Kunlun, Diancang and Qingcheng.

  As expected, there is a traitor in the Demon Sect. The Orthodox Sect's people arrived at the Heaven's Crack so quickly!

  Wu Gou's face was deeply worried, and the curved knife lady was also slightly flustered. If it weren't for Chu Jiu and Lin Qing sending a message ahead of time, the couple would have definitely not escaped this disaster!

  The four major sects joined forces, and their strength could rival that of the Demon Sect's leader. Although the couple was among the top ten elders, they were absolutely no match!

  Four people saw thick smoke billowing above the crack in the ground, Wu Gou and Madame Curved Knife cursed loudly "Despicable!" Chu Jiu also knew that it must be someone from the righteous sect who didn't recognize the "Three Lines Eight Trigrams As You Wish Formation", they couldn't get in so they set fire to the bamboo forest. They were afraid that after entering, they would find no one in the thatched cottage and the cottage would also be burned down!

  Lin Meng'er also let out a sigh of "hiss", that paradise on earth, now feared to have turned into a pile of ashes!

  At the beginning of the ninth day, he was puzzled in his heart. With the ability of his master and the Kunlun Sword Master to communicate with heaven, this small array could not stump them. Although Chujiu thought so in his heart, he couldn't speak out loud. Even if he spoke out loud, he didn't know who to ask for an answer. This distinction between right and wrong was also increasingly confusing in his heart!

  Lin Meng'er's face turned red, thinking of her father and two senior brothers who were also among the orthodox crowd. Her heart was even more bewildered, comparing the three great elders of the demonic sect she had encountered in the past two days, who were viewed as poisonous scorpions by the people of Jianghu, with the countless people in the orthodox sect, who was right and who was evil?

  Four people had their own thoughts in mind, but all sighed and the horse's hooves didn't stop for a moment, heading straight to Emei in western Shu.

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  Note: The "Shan Hai Jing" records: Fei Yu, a strange beast, resembling a snake. It has six legs and four wings, is of the pure fire element, and when seen, there will be a great drought throughout the land; it retreats upon encountering water.

  "The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Western Wilderness)" records: Hundun, long-haired and four-legged, like a dog, with a belly but no five organs. It bumps into good people and relies on evil people. It is the most evil beast!